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Top Comments: Study Shows Christianity Thrives Best Without State Support [1]
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Date: 2023-09-03
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A friend pointed me toward an article from Medium that draws attention to a recently published statistical analysis of the popularity of Christianity in the nations of the world with respect to the level of state support the church obtains from that nation. The big reveal: in nations where churches receive state support, church attendance and Christian self-identification fall, while churches thrive in nations that do not support Christian churches. This appears to be paradoxical, but as these articles point out, there are reasons for this anti-correlation.
Consider Europe. Much of Europe is Christian, and many of the nations of Europe have official state denominations. For example, the governments of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Belgium have identified the Roman Catholic Church as their official religion, and they grant special benefits to the Church by various means. Likewise, the official religion of the United Kingdom is the Church of England, founded by Henry VIII; the sovereign of Britain is also the head of the Church. You can’t get a government more involved in a religion than that! Yet, in each of these countries, church attendance has dropped off precipitously. Certainly, church scandals, such as the child molestation scandal in the Catholic Church, has driven away many parishioners, but the fact of an official state preference changes the mission of a church from attending to the laity to currying favor (and money) from the government. Such churches get lazy, and parishioners become alienated.
On the other hand, where the church has no state support, Christianity has no advantage over other religions, and so it must find innovative ways to compete with other religions. It seems Adam Smith applies to the marketplace of religions as well as he does to other marketplaces. Even in Iraq, where Christians are persecuted, it can be said that Christianity in Iraq is healthier than it is in most of Europe.
I recall reading somewhere that the First Amendment’s provision separating church and state has been a great boon to religion in the U. S. The Constitution was ratified and implemented during a period of very weak religiosity in the U. S., but keeping the government out of religion allowed manifold new churches to sprout and thrive. Ironically, Evangelicals and other Christians who are among the more popular religions are ignorant of this fact, and they want official sanction, breaching the wall put in place by the Founders. Personally, I am utterly against such an outcome, but what this research suggests is that if they succeed, they may be condemning their denominations to oblivion.
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Top Comments (September 3, 2023):
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